Mark McGrath (darts player)

Mark McGrath (born July 15, 1968) is an English-born New Zealand professional darts player.

Mark McGrath
Personal information
Nickname	The Cowboy
Born	(1968-07-15) 15 July 1968 (age 57) Leeds, England
Home town	Rongotea
Darts information
Playing darts since	1988
Darts	25 Gram
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	Cowboy Up by Dry County
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	1995, 2002–2020
WDF	2002–
WDF major events – best performances
World Championship	Last 32: 2017, 2019
World Masters	Last 16: 2017
World Trophy	Semi Final: 2019
PDC premier events – best performances
World Championship	Last 72: 2015
Other tournament wins
Alan King Memorial 2016 DPNZ King Country Open 2012 DPNZ Tararua Open 2014 New Zealand Masters 2016 PDC World New Zealand Qualifying Event 2014 Canterbury Classic 2018 Canterbury Open 2018 Auckland Open 2018 New Zealand Open 2019

Career

McGrath qualified for the 2015 PDC World Darts Championship after winning the New Zealand Qualifier.^[1] He was whitewashed 4–0 by American Scott Kirchner in the preliminary round.^[2]

In 2016, McGrath claimed the New Zealand Masters and Alan King Memorial titles. McGrath qualified for the 2017 BDO World Darts Championship McGrath beat Roger Janssen 3-2 before losing 3–0 to the current World Champion Scott Mitchell. In 2018 McGrath won the Canterbury Classic and the Canterbury Open, McGrath also won The Auckland Open. McGrath also qualified for the 2018 Auckland Darts Masters he beat Michael Smith 6-4 before losing 10–4 to Raymond Van Barneveld. McGrath is the only person from New Zealand to have won a game at The Auckland Darts Masters. McGrath qualified for The 2019 BDO World Darts Championship (His third world championship). At The 2019 BDO World Championship McGrath beat Adam Smith-Neale the reigning Winmau World Masters Champion 3-0 McGrath then went on to lose 3–0 to reigning BDO World Champion Glen Durrant in the last 32. McGrath also won the New Zealand Open defeating AJ te Kira. McGrath was the New Zealand qualifier for the 2019 BDO World Darts Trophy where he reached the semi-finals and beat current BDO number one Wesley Harms this was the first time a New Zealander had reached a major televised darts semi-final. McGrath also represented New Zealand at the 2019 WDF World Cup in Romania ^[3]

World Championship results

PDC

• 2015: Last 72 (lost to Scott Kirchner 0–4) (legs)

BDO

• 2017: 1st Round (lost to Scott Mitchell 0–3)
• 2019: 1st Round (lost to Glen Durrant 0–3)

Personal life

McGrath was born and raised in Leeds until his family emigrated to New Zealand in 1981. Went to Horowhenua College until 1986, where he was nicknamed Paddy due to his thick leeds accent. Married to Colette McGrath, 23 February 2013. McGrath has two children Jessica, Connor and Colette has 2 children Tayla, Brooke. McGrath works as Baker for his job. In his spare time he goes Jetski fishing. He is a member of Team Cowboy and his major sponsors are DartsNz.co.Nz, R J Roofing.^[4] He supports Leeds United.